Torrington officials host 'Community Conversation' to bring public in to talks about bullying and sexual assault

TORRINGTON>> Torrington city, school and law enforcement officials spoke at a panel discussion meant to address cyber-bullying and sexual assault, Tuesday evening at Torrington High School's Little Theater.

Dubbed a, "Community Conversation," 10 speakers presented topics such sexual assault, development of the teen mind and Connecticut's anti-bullying legislation to a crowd of approximately 100.

Executive director of the Susan B. Anthony Project Barbara Spiegel called such conversations ways to "make our community a safer and a better place."

The discussion was prompted by a March 20 report by The Register Citizen, which detailed Twitter harassment of two 13-year-old girls, after two players on the Torrington High School football teams were accused of rape. Following the arrests of Edgar Gonzalez, 18, 330 Highland Ave., and Joan Toribio also 18 of the same address but a different apartment for allegedly assaulting the girls, peers criticized the girls on Twitter, calling them, "whore" and "snitch."

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Although the national media coverage of rape allegations and cyber-bullying prompted the panel discussion, the allegations themselves were never mentioned.

One panelist, editor of Waterbury's Republican-American Jonathan Kellogg, pointed out the omission, calling it "the case we all know about but are all kind of talking around."

Torrington Board of Education chair, Kenneth Traub, called the event a "taster." Each panelist spoke for between five and 10 minutes, giving a broad overview of their area of specialty.

For example, Torrington Police Detective Mike Emanuel and Kevin Tieman discussed statutory definitions of sexual assault, focusing on age differences as it relates to the charge of second degree sexual assault.

Traub said he's hoping more panels will manifest in later summer and early winter. Nevertheless, he called turnout for the event, which included off-season members of the Torrington High School football team, "a little disappointing."

"We would have liked to see a much better turnout," said Traub. "Unfortunately, like a lot of things, we can't control the weather," he said, referring to a tornado warning issued for Litchfield County that evening.

Traub said he believed students were, "inundated by Susan B. Anthony to discuss this topic in the past few months." He said, "I don't know if they wanted to hear it again."

Panelists did not take questions directly from the audience. Instead, following a presentation by each panelist, audience members could attend one of several "break out groups," with a panelist. Audience members could also write questions on index cards. Mayor Ryan Bingham said the questions would be moderated and answered online.

Traub said he's hoping more of the panels will manifest from questions on index cards.